This past week in my Diverse Populations class, Ricardo Lewis, the former Dean of Students at Illinois State, came to speak to the junior cohort of social work students. He has lived an interesting life and talked to us about diversity and how he has used his art as a way to start a conversation. Lewis grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina during the 60s, a prime time for the civil rights movement. He had never thought about going to college until one of his employers told him he was talented and needed to pursue higher education. He graduated in 1984 from Winston-Salem State University with a Bachelor’s in Art and then went on to pursue a Master’s of Science degree from Illinois State University. He stopped painting a couple times and didn’t pick it back up for a while, but when retirement became more of a thought a few years ago, he started painting again and has now created some of the most profound work I’ve ever viewed.

While he was still working at Illinois State, he had the pleasure of working with some black males; they would have monthly meetings and just talk about the different things going on in their lives. Lewis then started to ask a few of his group members to pose for some portraits he was going to paint. What he ended up creating was a collection of 10 portraits, the "(In)Visible Men" series, depicting some of the men in his group. Lewis wanted to challenge the viewer and bring to attention the importance of black men in our society. When addressing my class, he talked about wanting to dismiss people’s biases and preconceived notions about what people already thought about black men. The men displayed in the paintings were real people, who are more than the stereotypes that unfortunately come with the color of their skin. Lewis wants the viewer to see the men without creating a narrative or passing judgment.

The paintings are fairly simple as well, the men aren’t wearing any kind of logos and there are no detailed backgrounds. The lack of visual cues from clothing and backgrounds made the men the star of the paintings and made sure people weren’t given details to make assumptions with. Most of the men in these paintings are looking straight at the viewer and that direct eye contact can be uncomfortable for some people. It forces the viewer to confront his or her feelings and thoughts about the black men in front of them. The combination of the very realistic painting style, lack of supporting details, and size of these paintings all created an intense, thoughtful and reflective viewing experience for my classmates and I.

The main purpose of this collection was to make people confront their biases and thoughts about black men and I think Ricardo Lewis has done an amazing job. This collection of paintings showed how significant people and art can be and Lewis has challenged the viewer to overcome any internal predispositions. He has turned his incredible painting ability into a conversation about how we view black men in our society and within the media. He has also created many more impactful and eye-catching pieces as well. They can be viewed on his website www.ricardoandrelewisart.com